WAS JESSE JAMES FASTER THAN BILLY THE KID?

When I was a wee laddie I was obsessed with hierarchies. It didn't matter what subject, I just had to know what or who came before the other. Was Allosaurus bigger than T.Rex and if so what was biting the ankles of the Tyrannosaur? Maybe you were like this too!

One of my favourite subjects were wild west gunslingers. You know, cowboys like Wild Bill Hickock, Billy the Kid, Wyatt Earp. I was mesmerised by their stories, and in some cases photographs, in publications like Look and Learn, Tell Me Why and the like. The art of Ron Embleton and co brought them completely to life too.

 

 

My hierarchy of gunslingers was based on notoriety, fame and above all, who was the fastest [or best] shot. Bat Masterson? Buffalo Bill? Butch Cassidy? Annie Oakley? Jesse James? If you plonked them all on an island, like the Japanese Kaiju movie Destroy All Monsters, who would come out on top? For the life of me I can't remember my list now!

 

 

There were loads of legendary slingers to choose from, baddies and goodies. Would anyone like to have a go at their own gunslinging wild west top 5?

 

Ron Embleton's Wyatt Earp

[Allposters]

JACK'S BACK: NEW JR TOY FINDS

Regular readers will know that I collect early JR toys. These are plastic novelty toys made by Jack Rosenthal's early toy company in the Sixties, which all carried the MR signed diamond mark and who went on to make Project SWORD toys.

 

 

 

 

Recently I picked up these two new loose additions to my collection, a bunny car and a road roller. The bunny toy is called 'Bunny Ride', which we've seen before and numbered 409. I found this at the Bolton 'Reebok' Toy Fair last month in the illustrious company of mighty co-bloggers Bill and Scoop.

 

 

 

The road roller is completely new to me and the blog and was a lucky ebay strike after a heads-up from my good friend Cookie. It's a lovely toy reminiscent of Jimson's and Clifford's vehicles  but is clearly branded with the JR 'MR' diamond and numbered 312. I don't know the real name of this toy or have no idea what the box looks like. If anyone knows please do let me know.

PROJECT SWORD PHASE 2 - 18/05/68

FRIDAY NIGHT FILM QUIZ

OK folks, here's another quick-fire quiz. This times its on quotes and titbits from Film and TV. A little obscure, see how you get on. As usual, its ONE answer per READER left in the comments. Go man go! Clues will be given later should it be necessary! PS. Clues in [brackets]!

 

 

1. In which film appeared the line "Unleash Hell!"? [sat on a horse]

 

 

2. What were the words ISSI NOHO short for in the TVshow of the same name?

 

 

3. In which film was a song sung which had the first line "God is in his Holy Temple"?

 

 

4. In which film did the vehicle have MOON FARGO written on its side?

 

 

5. In which film does a character self-referentially say "Still Sharp!"? [stood before a shrine]

 

 

6. Which TV show ended with the line "you meddling kids!"?

 

 

7. In which film appears the line "You are invited!"? [in a record shop]

 

 

8. Which film has the line "He's an excellent driver!"?

 

 

9. In which film does someone shout "That's enough, that's enough!"? [stood in heavy rain]

 

 

10. Which film contains the lines "Here's a leg", "Here's a wing!"? [holding a shovel]

THE DAMBUSTERS!

Here in Blighty  it’s the 70th Anniversary of the famous Dambusters raid which began on the evening of 16th May 1943.

To mark the occasion I've put together a few photos I took of the Battle Of Britain Memorial Flight including one of the two remaining flying Lancaster Bombers, as well as a fly - by, all  filmed at the Southport Airshow last year.

The daring raid was carried out by 133 RAF airmen, flying 19 Lancaster bombers armed with the ‘Bouncing Bombs’ designed by Sir Barnes Wallis.

617 Squadron, better known as The Dambusters was led by Wing Commander Guy Gibson. It’s mission was to destroy the great dams of Germany.

At 21.28, the first waves of Lancasters  took off from RAF Scampton, heading out in across the North Sea.

At 00.28 Gibson ran the first attack on The Mohne Dam. His flew exactly 60ft above the ground at a speed of 230mph. The bomb was released. It bounced three times  and sank, exploding short of the target.

German gunners reacted quickly and as the next Lancaster made it’s bombing run  anti aircraft fire ripped into the plane causing it to drop it’s bomb too late. It bounced over the dam,  destroying a power house.

With two Lancasters acting as decoys the next aircraft approached the dam, which was beginning to crumble.  The bomb struck and the dam finally collapsed.

With one target down the squadron headed towards the Eder Dam.

At 01.54, the second dam had been breached . A third dam, The Lister was to be attacked,  followed by a forth, The Sorpe, however the aircraft tasked with the job was shot down over the heavily defended town of Hamm.

At 06.15 the last surviving plane landed at RAF Scampton. The Dambusters mission was over.

BLUE SHIELD LEM AND ASTRONAUTS

 

 

For a long long time I have been after a bag of Blue Shield astronauts and a LEM. Well, this month I was lucky enough to snaffle a set on Ebay US. American in origin, the set consists of a squadron of miniature yellow and grey astronauts a la SpaceX/ Golden Astronaut/ LP, together with a lovely white LEM complete with US flag. The astronauts are about a half inch tall and marked 'Hong Kong'.

 

 

The set is called 'Apollo Capsule' and was made in Hong Kong for Blue Shield aka Great Southern Corporation, Memphis, Tennessee, 38162. It cost all of 10 cents back in the dimestores of Sixties America! [I've forgotten to photograph the bag and header card! Doh!]

 

 

The little astronauts are the same size as the pair which came in a Canadian dimestore bag of astronauts and a helicopter. The whole family is pictured here. What do you think?

Anyone else got any miniature LP astronauts around the half inch mark? Are there even smaller ones out there?

Your Computer Is Updating For the Next Ten Years!

Like road works, updates on my PC are just a pain in the a*se. I don't know about you but I find them unwelcome, inconvenient and indescribably irritating.

Microsoft, Java, Adobe, AVG et al all seem to want to update constantly and together!

 

 

The worst offender is Microsoft, whose updates seem to turn my laptop into a Chinook helicopter as it whirs crazily trying to cope with the data-blast. It then wants to turn itself off and configure all the updates as well! Its such a pain in the neck!

 

 

Recently, Google and Picasa have joined the ranks too. Every time I upload photographs to Picasa, not only does it want me share them with all and sundry, it even ID's people in my snaps, regardless of the fact that some photos were forty years old, and tries to contact them! What the hell is going on?

 

 

And just what's the deal with Google + ? All roads seem to lead there regardless of where you started! Do Google own everything? Are we seeing the beginnings of Big Google?

 

 

Am I alone with my online frustrations or does anyone else feel the same?

The Changing Nature of Childhood Swearing

Children have always swore. Swearing by its very nature requires boundaries and children know all about them.

These boundaries are set by culture and dictate what is publicly acceptable in different groupings. In the 1960's very little was acceptable and I just about got away with flipping heck and sugar. Urinating was weeing and breaking wind was trumping.

 

 

Utterances of words like F*ck, B*llocks and even Sh*t or F*rt  would have meant death by firing squad with my Mum, Dad and Schoolteachers loading the ammo!

 

 

As culture shifts so too do what is considered a swearing. Now that I work in Education I've been astonished to find that weeing is now peeing and trumping is now farting. The boundaries have changed and not just for kids but for adults too. Everyone says pee and fart in front of each other nowadays, in class, in public and in the home.

 

 

So what else will be acceptable soon from our Kids? Have you any views on childhood language readers?